Owen cummiskey



(No Model.)

0. GUMMI'SKEY. EOLDBAGK FOR VEHICLES.

No. 462,377. Patented Nov. 3, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OlVEN CUMMISKEY, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

HOLDBACK FOR VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 462,377, dated November 3, 1891.

Application filed June 4, 1891. $erial No. 395,057. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, OWEN CUMMISKEY, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in I-loldbacks for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to holdbacks for vehicles, such as carriages, buggies, road-carts, and the like.

The object of the invention is to produce a holdback attachment for vehicles which shall be a permanent breechpiece, and thus dispense with the breeching of the harness; also, to make the breech-piece adjustable to any desirable height; also, to so arrange the breech-piece that it may be adjusted as to height Without getting out of the vehicle; also, in general, to improve holdbacks of the general character referred to.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vehicleshaft and attachments with holdback attached. Fig. 2 is a top plan of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail showing manner of adjusting the breech-strap. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a modification.

The numeral 1 denotes the shaft or thill of a vehicle of usual construction. The pair of shafts or thills may be straight or curved and are connected by the cross-bar 2. The singletree or whiffletree 3 is attached to the shafts in any usual manner. A pair of standards or brackets 4 4 are attached to the whittletree. These standards or brackets are of metal and have eyes 5 near their upper ends, through which eyes straps may pass. The standards t may be formed from a single strap or bar of metal, the middle portion being screwed or riveted to the whiflietree and the ends turned up to form standards, or they may be separate pieces secured to the Whifiletree or cross-bar of the shafts. An eye-piece 6 is attached to each shaft about as far forward as the usual holdback-catch. These metallic eye-pieces extend upward as far as may be needful, their height depending on the height of the shafts from the ground and the sizeof the animal. Usually the eye-pieces 6 will extend above the shafts a little more than the width of the breech-piece. The

breech-piece 7, which serves instead of the breeching of the harness, is a broad strap ofleather or other flexible material having its two ends connected to the eye-pieces 6, preferably by buckles 8, so that the length of the breech-piece may be adjusted. The breechpiece thus attached to the shafts will extend around in a curve at'the sides and rear of the position of the horse, the ends of said breechpiece being above the shafts. The two straps 9 9 are attached to the breech-piece 7 and extend across the same behind the position of the horse. These straps 9 9 may be sewed, riveted, or otherwise secured to the breechpiece 7, and one end of each of these straps passes through one of the eyes 5 of the standards 4.. The other end of the strap 9 passes dow'nward below the cross-bar of the shafts, and both ends button over a fixed button or stud 10 at the rear of the cross-bar 2. The straps 9 will have a sufficient number of button-holes, so that their position may be adj usted on the buttons 10, thus raising or-lowering the breech-piece 7 with relation to the eyes 5 of the standards, and therefore with respect to the shafts. The ends of the straps 9 may be joined together, so that the strap will button in one place only, as in Fig. 3.

As shown in dotted lines, Fig. -1,the adjustment of the straps 9 on the buttons 10 will raise or lower the back part of the breechpiece-5, so thatthe holdback may come at the proper height to fit any animal. The strap may be raised as high above the shafts as the top of standards 4, as for a low carriage or phaeton, or it may be dropped even below the shafts, as in case of a hansom or like vehicle. There are no protuberances at the sides of the horses hips, which would be objectionable.

My holdback may be adjusted as to height without getting out of the carriage. The holdback comes against the horse only when the vehicle is going downhill or when the horse is backed against the piece 7. Consequently there is no chafing of the horse by the breeching, as when the breeching is attached to the harness and moves up and down against the animal when not serving to hold the. load.

In Fig. 4 a modification is shown which is applicable to hansom-cabs and the like having shafts elevated above the ordinary position of shafts in a carriage. The breech-strap 7 is connected to the shafts 1 below instead of above said shafts. The strap 7" is supported at the rear by one or more straps O, which strap or straps are connected to the dash-board or to the frame on which the dashboard is supported. The strap 9 may be connected to the dash-board by buttons, hooks, buckles, or in other suitable manner. Straps 9, Figs. 1 and 2, may be held by hooks or buckles, if desirable.

What I claim is- 1. A holdback for vehicles,.consisting of a breech-piece connected to the shafts at the forward ends, substantially as described, brackets projecting upward above the Whiffietree and in rear of the animalsposition, and adjustingstraps attached to the breech-piece and extending over said brackets, in combination, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the straps and cross-bar of a vehicle, of a breech-strap connected to the shafts and extendingto the rear of the horses position, brackets extending upward above the cross-bar, and adjustingstraps secured to the breech-strap extending over said brackets and under the cross-bar, substantially as described.

3. The combination, With the shafts, and eye-pieces extending above the same, of the breech-strap, the cross-bar, and brackets extending above the same in rear of the animals position, the adj Listing-straps attached to the breech-strap and extending over said brackets, and buttons on the cross-bar, to which said straps are adj ustably secured, all substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix mysignature in presence of two Witnesses.

O WEN CUMMISKEY.

\Vitnesses:

J OSEPH ROY, 'W. A. BARTLETT. 

